There is a widespread desire to create works of art such as paintings, including by persons having little or no formal art training. Numerous techniques and implements for aiding in art instruction have been attempted over the years and generations with varying levels of success. Such techniques and implements often focus on children or are otherwise limited in their level of sophistication. More recently, a desire has been seen to provide art instruction to adults or children desiring more sophisticated art instruction oftentimes in a party setting that combines desirable recreation with a level of art instruction targeted to such participants. The goal of such art instruction, for example, may be to enable participants to complete a work of art in a defined period of time such as two or three hours.
The proliferation of art parties for children or adults as a mode of entertainment combined with art instruction exemplifies this trend. Art parties can provide a social setting along with art instruction. Such environments for art instruction have created the need for relatively simple methods of art instruction with a level of sophistication that is suitable for participants that desire more than a paint-by-numbers experience. Ideally, the art instruction results in artwork that, for example, depicts a reasonable likeness of a desired scene or image used in the art instruction, with depth or creating the appearance of the actual three dimensional object.
Art instruction may occur at various locations and group settings depending on the participants and instructors and available facilities. In such circumstances, any equipment and supplies may need to be transported and provided by the host or the person or entity providing the art instruction. Participants may include children and adults, and typically most participants do not have formal training in the creation of artwork. Using an art party as an example, a relatively large group of participants may gather for art instruction with the goal of producing a work of art in a more or less defined period of time, such as about two to three hours. This may be the first art instruction many participants have encountered. The goal of art instruction in such as setting generally is to provide participants with an enjoyable social environment facilitated by a host who is knowledgeable in art instruction. Participants expect to enjoy the time spent with other people and at the same time create a recognizable or desirable piece of artwork in a stress-free fun atmosphere. The system and methods used by the host need to be easily understood, simple to set up, compact for transporting between various locations, while at the same time providing more sophisticated art instruction than paint-by-numbers.
There are many techniques used in art instruction ranging from simplistic paint-by-numbers to instruction of shapes, shading, tone, etc. Art grids or “squaring” are commonly used in art instruction for creating an accurate perspective likeness of shapes or source images. Squaring or gridding generally involves subdividing a source image into a number of squares that individually relate to destination squares drawn or projected onto a canvas or other art medium. Often the sizes of squares are used to create different proportional sizes of source images. The grid method relative to art instruction involves the location of a point or area on the canvas surface referenced by a set of coordinates using the horizontal and vertical axes. Various types of art grids are known in prior art; however, such known techniques possess limitations making them impractical or ineffective for the purpose of art instruction in settings such as described above, and tend to produce flat, two dimensional appearances.
One known technique involves an alignment mechanism and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,490. This technique relates to a grid system printed on a static cling vinyl or other similar material, and is used with a light source to aid in the positioning, tracing and alignment of art projects. The use of light boxes for the purpose of group art instruction or art parties generally is cost prohibitive and inconvenient for transporting equipment and supplies for a large group or novice individuals.
Another known technique is the drawing aid described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,938. This patent discloses a series of detailed image guides, corner guides, canvas tables, a scaled ruler for marking canvas grids, and pre-gridded canvases or back-shadowing transparencies for placing behind canvases and illuminating from the back, which may require the canvas to be transparent enough to pass light. This patent also discloses computer generated graduated image-guides using a software program. When canvases are gridded, the grid is quickly covered with one layer of paint, such as background coloring or underpainting. Once the grid is covered, it is no longer usable for providing additional instruction or details for the artwork. The use of illumination and computer generated aids generally are cost prohibitive in particular for a group setting, logistically impractical for transporting, and ineffective in a group art instruction environment.
Another known technique is the freehand drawing training and guiding device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,579,099. This techniques includes a device consisting of a series of sighting grid plates through which a subject to be drawn is viewed, a series of grid transfer stencils used to set a similar grid on the canvas or paper media. With such techniques, the artist is tracing and not drawing it by themselves. While the grid transfer stencils may be removed after use, transfer stencils generally limit the art instruction and/or tend to leave artifacts in the work, and also tend to require disposal or cleaning, which generally are undesirable for art instruction in group settings such as described above. Another disadvantage is that a different stencil typically is required for each painting, either requiring a large number of stencils or a reduced number of paintings.
Another disadvantage of some known grid art techniques is that reference is made to squares as opposed to points, which limit the fineness and sophistication of the instruction and painting that is provided.
Additionally, there are limitations with known, traditional collapsible portable easels. Various easels are known in the art, including the commonly used collapsible art easel disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,805. There are also known tabletop easels such as the portable dual easel disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,925. Traditional easels such as these generally are limited to one artist, and additional equipment such as tables are needed for tabletop easels. Space is often limited when conducting group art instruction such as with an art party. An art party may take place in a home, office, or outdoor venue typically not originally designed for art instruction. The host or instructor of the art party often must bring all supplies and equipment needed to conduct the event. A two-sided collapsible standing easel, adapted for use with border guides as described herein, would be advantageous in accommodating more participants within a smaller space. The disadvantages to existing art easels include limitations to one participant, the added requirements for tables, may require unstable placing of tarps or the like over a substantial area and under furniture, etc., and a lack of compact storage of supplies within the easel compartment for storage and transport, and inability to accommodate border grids/guides as described herein.
In short, such prior techniques tend to have various disadvantages and limitations, particularly in group and/or mobile art instruction (such as an art party), in which relatively sophisticated yet practical art instruction techniques can be provided in a group setting, with the participants producing a desirable work of art within a relatively predetermined time period.